An Australian animal hospital said one of its canine patients gave birth to a litter of 21 puppies, setting a new national record.
Veterinarian Patrycja Zimmermann of the Animal Emergency Service Underwood in Queensland said the Neapolitan mastiff had delivered three of the pups at home before it arrived at their hospital early Monday.
"After four hours of no activity and a puppy that didn't make it, her owner brought her into us expecting the worst," Zimmermann said. Veterinarians found that there were at least 10 puppies waiting to be born, so they performed an emergency C-section. 18 more puppies were eventually removed.
The hospital said the "miracle litter" is a new Australian record, beating the previous record of 19 puppies.
Unfortunately, only 18 of the puppies survived but quite a feat and hopefully all 18 puppies find nice, happy homes!